


A New Perspective

by HDLynn



Series: The Caretaker Series [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, instinctual teamwork, protective Din, small mention of violence, two idiots who dont know what pining is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23875633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HDLynn/pseuds/HDLynn
Summary: Din has trouble getting information on a bounty in a seedy cantina. Thankfully for him, he brought along someone who can help.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Reader
Series: The Caretaker Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720672
Comments: 5
Kudos: 151





	A New Perspective

The planet that Mando brought us to was sketchy. Shady as kriff from what I could tell. The Mandalorian didn’t even want to leave me and the kid on the ship alone. He had some intel on his current bounty job that led to a local cantina in town.

The Mandalorian wasn’t afraid of the ship being stolen since he had decided to begrudgingly make use of an actual ship hanger. However, it didn’t seem like he was willing to trust the hanger staff with too much. He felt it more prudent to bring us along where he could protect us, which I supposed made sense. 

I perhaps should ask him to show me how to use some of his weapons, though, if this was going to be a common occurrence.

As we went through, the main town was busy, but silence surrounded us. The sight of a beskar clad warrior was apparently not a usual one here. But when we passed by the chatter started back up again immediately even if it was a bit more subdued than before.

I looked up at the back of Mando’s helmet and wondered what it must have felt like to be looked at like that all the time. As if he was an agent of death come to claim souls, that or the devil incarnate. I would’ve hated it. I had a hard time when someone didn’t _like_ me, much less if they looked like they wanted to stab me in the back as they did with him.

I made sure to stick close to him through the crowd. It was rather easy as well since most everyone parted like oil to his water.

I kept Vert and his ears tucked in the makeshift sling I had crafted. I didn’t want these dangerous people getting too curious about our little green boy any more than Mando wanted them to.

We shortly came to the entrance of a building and Mando instructed me to follow close behind him. We would be in just long enough to get intel.

The main room we walked into was smokey and smelled rank with booze and body odor.

I jumped at the sudden fight that broke out in the cantina and instinctively moved closer to Mando’s side. My left arm cradled Vert while my right hand found Mando’s free hand and held on for dear life.

~*~

Din felt himself go stiff for a second before his training, to adapt to new situations, kicked in.

The planet Gatis was a forested and lawless shithole, full of cutthroats and thieves. He had kept his right hand loose and perched on the butt of the blaster in his holster. He was, as always, alert to any issues that might pop up. So, when a run-of-the-mill bar fight broke out in one corner of the cantina, he had not been surprised. Honestly, it had been rather mundane for a bar fight, just a couple parties involved, and was quickly settled. He had anticipated his companion to be rather jumpy at the whole situation, she was out of her element, after all. The one thing he had not expected was when she moved closer to his side and grab his left hand tightly with her own.  
  
He couldn’t remember the last time any creature, other than the kid, had held his hand like that, as if he was their lifeline. His hand tingled at the contact as the coolness of her skin seeped through the leather of his glove. His brain told him that she was just scared, needing to feel safe and protected, that was logical. But…he was unsure how to feel that he was the person she automatically gravitated to for that protection. All right, that was a lie, he wasn’t a complete idiot, he knew she saw him as a protective figure.

Din let her hand remain in his. He told himself it was only because the cantina seemed to be safe enough to be down one hand as he led them all to the bar, which was being held down by a droid, unfortunately. 

“Do you want to rent a room for you, your wife and child, sir?” the droid asked in its programmed metallic tone. “We have rooms for rent by the night and by the hour.”

Kriffing hell, he hated droids.

~*~

“I am sorry, sir, I am programmed to not share private information about our customers.” The droid responded again to Din’s line of questioning about the bounty he was after. The Mandalorian let out a frustrated growl. He was about ready to reach over the counter and slam the piece of scrap metal into the bar until the wires popped out of the horrible machine’s head.

Then, he felt a firm squeeze on his hand and turned to watch the other hand of his companion was placed on his upper arm, the touches instantly grounding him in the moment. He couldn’t just go around shooting droids in cantinas when the two people he was the most responsible for were standing right beside him. But he didn’t know what to do, the last bit of information he had been able to get on the bounty led right to this cantina. If he didn’t get some information out of the droid they were adrift with nothing.

She saw his hesitation and turned a bright smile to the droid.

“My apologies, we’ve had a rough day. Would it be possible to let my husband know any public information about the people he was asking about?” she asked in a polite and bubbly voice, which was not like her normal speaking voice.

It was like she had turned on some kind of switch to become instantly more outgoing, but he had almost missed that whole tonal shift because he had slightly malfunctioned when she said ‘my husband’. Why was he like that over just that word? It was a stupid feeling, she obviously was just going along with the droid’s assumptions to make the conversation flow easier.

“Public information is acceptable to my programming,” the droid said. “There was a soldier in here earlier asking about those you seek, they were asking all around town so it is public knowledge.”

“Thank you!” she effused. “Are they here right now?”

“Negative, but if they are still in town, they will be eating here. This cantina has the best food in town,” the droid said, his programing to sell cantinas’ products showing.

“That’s excellent! Oh! Could you get me a glass of blue milk if you have that available? For the baby.”

Din stared at her as the droid went to get her the milk she had asked for, his mouth was literally open behind the helmet in awe. How had she done that so easily?

She caught him staring, and her hand fell away from his upper arm. Din’s arm felt cold at the sudden lack of her touch. He couldn’t quite bring himself to let their intertwined fingers separate yet, keeping a firm but gentle hold on that hand. To upkeep the illusion for the droid, he told himself.

“What?” 

He shook his head. “I…how did you do that?”

“Do what?”

She blinked up at him, confused by his question.

“How did you think of that? And you became…different.” He couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it.

“I dunno,” she shrugged. “I figured his programming might not be as specific as one might think, if that makes sense? And the voice?” She waved a hand to blow that question away, but she continued anyway.

“It’s just ‘customer service voice’. I used to work in sales, before going into childcare. The nasty customers tended to be less mean if they thought I was younger or an airhead. The easiest way to make them see me like that was usually using a higher-pitched tone. If they weren’t total assholes, it made it a little harder for them to get angry at me if they just assumed I was a newer employee.”

Din nodded at that explanation and paid for the milk the droid had returned with. He let her hand finally slip from his while she helped Vert drink from the cup. She couldn’t see it, but he was looking at her with awe. She was so… _mirdala_. Yes, that was it — clever.

Leaning one arm on the bar-top, Din found himself smiling softly as he watched them. Another mando'a word danced in the back of his mind. He wanted to shove it away, his heart and mind warring. He didn't think it was his place to think of her as part of his _aliit_ …yet here he was.

~*~*~


End file.
